A Victory
The city that should have been wrapped in quiet was now torn apart by chaos. Both private guards and state police moved in fast, simultaneous—a single, urgent swarm converging on one certain target. From among the commanders came the grit and grind of jaws clenching. Once again, they had failed to catch the thief. Somehow, their every plan read like an open book, its pages turned before they could even act.
That day held a closed auction for a gem of incalculable worth, a diamond called Ouranos. Deep blue as a midnight storm, yet when sunlight touched it, the stone blazed as though it contained its own inner fire. The auction was held in secret, within a museum dedicated to rare jewels. To mislead the thief who had plagued them for so long, they staged a grander, louder event elsewhere, a masquerade meant to bury the truth.
At first, everything unfolded smoothly. They even caught signs that the elusive thief, known as Kaoru, had walked into their decoy. But when the police closed in, they found nothing but a diversion, a high school boy, paid to dress the part, who claimed he had simply been hired to play a role. And while attention was locked onto that elaborate misdirection, the real stage was left exposed. There, without resistance or interruption, Kaoru claimed the Ouranos. With all the forces poured into guarding the false event, nothing remained to block his path.
“Damn it!” one officer snarled, watching the thief smile from above, gripping a rope tethered to a helicopter. His other arm circled the waist of a girl whose face, from the ground, blurred into the shadows—they were already too high.
What they did not know was that the girl was their own partner. A young, gifted detective hailed as the one destined to finally capture Kaoru. Several times, she had predicted his moves with uncanny accuracy. Even if capture remained just out of reach, her insight alone marked a breakthrough in a pursuit that had long been blind.
Now, dressed sweetly, held against Kaoru’s chest, she smiled and fired something from her pistol into the night. Confetti scattered into the night, drifting like fragments of celebration beneath the pale glow of the moon, turning their escape into something theatrical.
“Hehe, I win again! You should really praise me more!” she shouted against the roar of wind and rotor blades.
“Hm… haven’t I praised you plenty, Shii-chan?” Kaoru replied, his tone softened by amusement. He leaned in, brushing a kiss against her cheek before capturing her lips in one smooth motion.
“Tch. Shameless couple,” muttered the pilot, glancing back to check on the pair he was hauling through the air.
“Sena? What is it?” asked his brown-haired companion seated beside him.
“Nothing,” Sena snapped, turning his focus forward again to steady the helicopter's flight.